Max Miedinger

1926-30: trains as a typesetter in Zurich, after which he attends evening classes at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich. 1936-46: typographer for Globus department store’s advertising studio in Zurich. 1947-56: customer counselor and typeface sales representative for the Haas’sche Schriftgießerei in Münchenstein near Basle. From 1956 onwards: freelance graphic artist in Zurich.

1956: Eduard Hoffmann, the director of the Haas’sche Schriftgießerei, commissions Miedinger to develop a new sans-serif typeface. 1957: the Haas-Grotesk face is introduced. 1958: introduction of the roman (or normal) version of Haas-Grotesk. 1959: introduction of a bold Haas-Grotesk. 1960: the typeface changes its name from Neue Haas Grotesk to Helvetica™.

1983: Linotype publishes its Neue Helvetica®, based on the earlier Helvetica™.